Hurricane Island Natural History Guide
Guide to the plants, mammals, invertebrates, and birds found on Hurricane Island, Vinalhaven, Maine
www.hurricaneisland.net
Barn Swallow
The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. A distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings, it is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In Anglophone Europe it is just called the Swallow; in Northern Europe it is the only common species called a "swallow" ...more ↓
Northern Parula
The Northern Parula (Setophaga americana) is a small New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida.
Scarlet Tanager
The Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.
Eastern Phoebe
The Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe, is a small passerine bird. This tyrant flycatcher breeds in eastern North America, although its normal range does not include the southeastern coastal USA.
Common Loon
The Great Northern Loon, Great Northern Diver, or Common Loon (Gavia immer), is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. The species is known as a Common Loon in North America and the Great Northern Diver in Eurasia, its current name is a compromise proposed by the International Ornithological Committee.
Common Eider
The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large (50–71 cm body length) sea-duck, which is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters.
Black Guillemot
The Black Guillemot or Tystie, Cepphus grylle, is a medium-sized alcid at 32-38 cm in length, and with a 49-58 cm wingspan.
Greater Black-backed Gull
The Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus, is a very large gull which breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic. It is fairly sedentary, but some Great Black-backed Gulls move farther south or inland to large lakes or reservoirs.
Herring Gull
The Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, is a large gull (up to 26 inches or 66 cm long), and is the most abundant and best known of all gulls along the shores of Asia, western Europe, and North America. It breeds across North America, Europe and Asia. Some Herring Gulls, especially those resident in colder areas, migrate further south in winter, but many are permanent residents, ...more ↓
Laughing Gull
The Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western Europe. (There was an influx into North-west Europe in late October 2005 when at ...more ↓
Northern Flicker
The Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a medium-sized member of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, is one of the few woodpecker species that migrates, and is the only woodpecker that commonly feeds on the ground. There are over 100 common names for the Northern Flicker. Among them are: ...more ↓
Dark-eyed Junco
The Dark-eyed Junco, Junco hyemalis, is the best-known species of the juncos, a genus of small grayish American sparrows. This bird is common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic. It is a very variable species, much like the related Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca), and its systematics is still not completely ...more ↓
Cedar Waxwing
The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is a member of the family Bombycillidae or waxwing family of passerine birds. It breeds in open wooded areas in North America, principally southern Canada and the northern United States.
Swainson's Thrush
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), also called Olive-backed Thrush, is a medium-sized thrush. This species is 16-18 cm in length, and has the white-dark-white underwing patterm characteristic of Catharus thrushes. Swainson's Thrush was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.
American Redstart
The American Redstart, Setophaga ruticilla, is a New World warbler. They breed in North America, across southern Canada and the eastern USA.
Common Yellowthroat
The Common Yellowthroat, (Geothlypis trichas), is a New World warbler. They are abundant breeders in North America, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico. Northern races are migratory, wintering in the southern parts of the breeding range, Central America and the West Indies. Southern forms are largely resident. This species is a very rare vagrant to western ...more ↓
Gray Catbird
The Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), also spelled Grey Catbird, is a medium-sized northern American perching bird of the mimid family. It is the only member of the "catbird" genus Dumetella. Like the Black Catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris), it is among the basal lineages of the Mimidae, probably a closer relative of the Caribbean ...more ↓
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England. An all-white Caribbean population was once known as a ...more ↓
Belted Kingfisher
The Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) is a large, conspicuous and noisy water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada. It is depicted on the 1986 series Canadian $5 note. All kingfishers were formerly placed in one family, Alcedinidae, but recent research suggests that this should be divided into three. All six ...more ↓
Atlantic Rock Crab
Cancer irroratus, common name the Atlantic rock crab or peekytoe crab, is a crab in the genus Cancer. Other local names are Maine crab, bay crab, sand crab and mud crab. It has nine marginal teeth on the front edge of the carapace beside each eye.
Bread-crumb Sponge
Halichondria panicea, commonly known as the breadcrumb sponge, is a species of marine demosponge belonging to the family Halichondriidae. This is an abundant sponge of coastal areas of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea ranging from the intertidal zone to a recorded depth of over 550 m. It is very tolerant of a wide range of coastal habitats, including strong ...more ↓
common periwinkle
The common periwinkle or winkle, also known as Littorina littorea, is a small edible marine gastropod mollusk with gills and an operculum in the family Littorinidae....
rough periwinkle
Littorina saxatilis, common name the rough periwinkle, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.
Flat Periwinkle
Littorina obtusata, common name the flat periwinkle, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.
Common Slipper Shell
The common slipper shell, Crepidula fornicata, has many other common names including common Atlantic slippersnail, boat shell, quarterdeck shell, fornicating slipper snail, and it is known in Britain as the "common slipper limpet". This is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails ...more ↓
Sea Vase
Ciona intestinalis or vase tunicate is a Urochordata (sea squirt) whose genome has been sequenced. It has become, over the past decade, a major experimental model for developmental biologists. It is widely distributed in North European waters, but has also spread to other parts of the world as an invasive species.
Jonah Crab
The Jonah crab, Cancer borealis, is a species of crab found on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is closely related to the Dungeness crab of the Pacific coast,and is known for its strong claws, although it is not a very aggressive species . The claws are so well muscled that they are generally prized as food over legs, which are more typically prized in other crab ...more ↓
Dog Whelk
The dog whelk, dogwhelk, or Atlantic dogwinkle, scientific name Nucella lapillus, is a species of predatory sea snail, a carnivorous marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.
Waved Whelk
Buccinum undatum, known as the common whelk, is a large edible marine gastropod in the family Buccinidae, the "true whelks".
American lobster
The American lobster, Homarus americanus, is one species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America. Within North America, it is also known as the northern lobster, Atlantic lobster or Maine lobster. It thrives in cold, shallow waters where there are many rocks and other places to hide from predators and is both solitary and nocturnal. It ...more ↓
skeleton shrimp
Caprelloidea is a superfamily of marine crustaceans. It was formerly treated as the suborder Caprellidea, but has been revised to the superfamily rank by Myers & Lowry (2003) after phylogenetic studies of the group. The group includes the following families.
Scuds
Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. The name amphipoda refers to the different forms of appendages, unlike isopods, where all the thoracic legs are alike. Of the 7,000 species, 5,500 are classified into one suborder, Gammaridea. The remainder are divided into two or three further suborders. Amphipods ...more ↓
Green Crab
Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab, and an important invasive species. It is listed among the 100 "world's worst invasive types of invasive species" .
Membranipora membranacea
Membranipora membranacea is a very widely distributed species of marine bryozoan known from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans usually in temperate zone environments. It may be known colloquially as the sea-mat or lacy crust bryozoan and is often abundantly found encrusting seaweeds, particularly kelps.
Acorn Barnacle
Semibalanus balanoides is a common and widespread boreo-arctic species of acorn barnacle. It is common on rocks and other substrates in the intertidal zone of north-western Europe and both coasts of North America.
Forbes's Starfish
Asterias forbesi, commonly known as Forbes sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is found in shallow waters in the north west Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Pollock
The pollock is an abundant, shallow water, coastal fish that can often be seen swimming nearby docks and piers. Pollock have three dorsal fins, a distinct lateral line, two anal fins, and forked tails.
Virginia Ctenucha
The Virginia Ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica) is a moth of the Arctiidae family. It is endemic to eastern North America, but has expanded its range westward. It inhabits wet meadows and open spaces with bushes from North Carolina to Canada east of the Rocky Mountains.
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
The Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) is a common North American skimmer dragonfly, found in southern Canada and in all 48 of the contiguous U.S. states.
